Woof and Wine

Just picked up this postcard and wanted/needed to share this with you. This is an amazing event. Wine, food, silent auction and more. And yes, Ming and I will be there.

 

Star came from Boxer OC Rescue. This is another Boxer Rescue Organization, non profit, volunteer based called Boxer BRLA. Last year Boxer placed nearly 800 boxers in new homes. Hallelujah, Praise the Lord, I’m sure you are impressed! So am I ! C’mon, donations are tax deductible. Such a worthy worthwhile cause. 

I hope to see you there. Looking forward to meeting as many of you as I can. Here is the link for the event, if you can’t make it, you can always donate!

http://www.boxer-rescue-la.com/winetasting08.html

 

The Mischief of a Puppy & Her Brother

As our boxer family grows, so does the wild, and amusing behavior. My morning begins with my two fur babies, Kc, and Star waking me for their breakfast. This is somewhere between 6 & 6:30am each and everyday. No problem, I’m a morning person so the 3 of us sneak downstairs while the rest of the family stays in slumber a little longer. Bathroom, then breakfast for the boxers. Star at 4 months will become very vocal if I don’t get her food ready fast enough. Kc stands up on the counter continuously to check my progress while I am assembling their food bowls. Finally I place their food bowls down, and watch them eat like 2 starved puppies. You wouldn’t believe that they were getting 3 big meals a day. Being boxers they are lucky to have a metabolism that allows them to eat big meals, and stay nice, and slim.

Now after their breakfast, we go outside again for another bathroom break, clean up, and back in for my cup of coffee. It’s time for me, after some puppy play, treats, and kisses to go upstairs to get ready for my day. The fur babies cannot follow me up the stairs b/c of their devilish play. Downstairs that have buckets of toys, beds to lay on, and an open door to the pasture, and garden.

They are surprising me for the past 4 mornings on my return downstairs. I might have been gone for 45 minutes. First they bring, I’m sure it is Star, the newspaper in. This is no small feat, because they have to bring it from the front of the house all the way around to the back, and through the back door into the living room. this is where they can take it out of it’s plastic bag, and open it for their Dad to read when he comes downstairs. I think during this process Kc the sweetheart that he is, has been trying to teach Star how to read. This would explain the newspaper being spread all over the living room. Not just the floor, but those cute kids of mine managed to also spread it all over the coach, which is very large, along with both of their beds. Fun, fun, fun.

Of course I come down and look at my sweet babies, who are dancing with joy, and then see the living room. My mouth falls open, with disbelief. Pick up the paper, and tore pieces of plastic, then we talk. Big eyes, lots of kisses, those are from me, and I’m sure tomorrow will be better.

Come One Come All

 

The Puppy Shower pictures and to read how we got Star http://blog.reikifurbabies.com/2008/07/03/with-age-comes-wisdom/

         

         

     

My $60,000 Boxer Baby

KC continued to eat slowly, stay shy, and never really get that puppy bounce. He was still going to the Vet weekly, and now to see a series of Vet specialists. I think from reviewing his 2 inch thick chart  he has had to have seen 8 different Vets.  He has had every test, blood work up, etc. that they possibly could do to a fur baby. He still did not get any better. In fact KC  began to lose his hair. I was in shock! He was all red, and became a hairless dog, who was screaming in pain.

 

 

I got a referral to Animal Dermatology Clinic, in Marina Del Rey, CA. Thank God it was close by. Once in for our appointment,  the Vet sees KC she says ohhhhhhh, don’t worry I know what he has, and it’s treatable. I started to cry, holding my sweet boxer boy in my arms. Finally someone knew what was going on with him, and there may be an answer too.  Turns out KC had demodectic mange (aka red mange ). Demodectiv mange is caused by a microscopic mite called ‘demodex canis.’ All dogs raised normally by their mothers possess this mite as mites are transferred from mother to pup via cuddling during first few days of life. (after the puppy is older it is unable to pick up demodex mites.) Mites are not transmitted to people or other dogs, except from mother dog to her pup.The treatment plan was long and difficult. Baths, dips , medications, skin scrapings, and lots of visits to the Vet.

 

 

 

 

In between all this KC is screaming from some type of joint pain. X-rays, specialists, consultations etc. The money just flows from our account to theirs. It never really gets to spend any time with us, so our balances are always down.

The cost of love.

 

 

The good news is after lots of money, and time, and caring Vets,  KC finally recovered from all of his aliments. The growing pains ended, so no surgery was ever required, or even considered for the joints. The mange also with treatment, and time went away. We have had no relapses either, fingers crossed.

KC last week had a wellness check up, and his Vet at Bay Cities Veterinary Hospital, in Marina Del Rey, which gave him a clean bill of health.

Hip- Hip- Hooray-

 

 

 

With age, comes wisdom

By now all of you know that I only have my sweet shy KC living at home. So we are getting a little restless at our house. Once you have had 2 dogs living together, you realize how important companionship is for a dog. So I contacted Ry’s breeder in Canada. I also looked at some other Boxer breeders. But then I remembered Oprah’s show about our responsibility to ourselves and our animals on this planet. Surfing Boxer rescue I went. I found a site called http://www.boxerocrescue.com. There she was. A little “Minnie”, her name at the moment. 12 weeks old, the prettiest female boxer I ever saw. I filled out the application, sent it off and then forgot about it. The other half of my brain is still thinking maybe I should just go with the breeder. I sit and talk to my husband. We look on line again at Minnie and read her story. Her mother Dory was about to be euthanized a couple days before she was ready to deliver her litter because she had kennel cough. Thank goodness BOCAR rescued her. Brenda Kinnie, the founder, rescued Dory and found her a foster home close to where she lived. A couple days later, Dory delivered 9 pure bred Boxer puppies. Unfortunately, 2 of them died. The other 7 were beautiful. What a fool I was all these years to have not rescued a puppy, any puppy. But for me, it was Boxers. I want to tell everyone that this is the greatest deal going. First, you get the most beautiful dog, you are saving a dog’s life, the dog is spade or neutered. Through BOCAR my dog also came with a microchip, food, toys, and complete records. When Brenda showed up with “Minnie” in her crate and 2 of her sisters I could have just screamed they were so beautiful. Each one was different, a fawn, a dark brindle and our “Minnie” Star. Brenda did a complete check of our yard and home to make sure it was adequate. We introduced sweet KC to Minnie Star.  KC seemed to get along just fine. He adapted easily.  I hated to let the other puppies go, but I do know my limits. I made a donation of $600 to BOCAR which I will be doing yearly now. I think the work Brenda and her organization does is so amazing. The reason I added “Star” is because I have a great Aunt Minnie, so just couldn’t call her Minnie. So you guessed it, she became our “Star”. Now we have KC and Star, two amazing Boxers running around. There is a difference between a rescue dog and a puppy mill dog. Star has been with us 3 days now and is open, loving, already trained to “sit”, goes out, sleeps through the night, wakes to a dry crate and plays wonderfully with her big brother. She has such a sweet nature and easy to please. It took me awhile to catch on but I will never ever go anywhere but to a Rescue. I encourage all of you if you are looking for a dog, any size, any kind. There is a rescue that has a dog, puppy, whatever you are a looking for, you will find each other and be so grateful that you did.